Normative acts become effective only if they get the approval of representatives of the Parliament and courts. However, to introduce the law for consideration, it is necessary to conduct a special legal examination of regulatory legal acts. What is this procedure? The answer to this question will be provided in the article.
General characteristics of the legal expertise of regulatory legal acts
If a person taking part in the legislative process expresses a desire to compile a collection of norms, then he will have to pay attention to a special set of rules and requirements for how the laws should look. Moreover, there is no dependence on any group or area related to the draft law being drafted. The set of principles on which the normative act will be based is always the same.
Thus, a legal examination of regulatory and legal acts is necessary for the implementation of verification work in relation to individual documents. Specialists in the field of jurisprudence check how the subject of the bill complies with current legislation.
The objectives of the examination of regulatory legal acts
Which specific acts may be subject to verification work? According to the norms in force in Russia, absolutely any: both federal and regional with municipal ones. The check itself is carried out to identify inconsistencies in the documents and to search for norms that do not comply with the law. Resolutions of officials, orders, normative collections - all this is subject to expert review.
The examination of regulatory legal acts allows us to establish their compliance with the following documents:
- acts of a regional or municipal character;
- federal laws;
- rules, requirements and norms that have been approved by state and regional authorities.
The procedure itself is assigned in different ways. The most common form of appointment is a trial for the implementation of contractual obligations. Ordinary representatives from a state body may also act as initiators of the appointment of an expert review.
What does the examination give?
The methodology for the appointment and implementation of expert reviews is a preventive way to verify the relevant documentation. Most often this happens with contracts - specifically so that in the future there will be no legal disputes or proceedings on the non-compliance of the document with the law. Another common reason for the appointment of a legal examination of normative and legal acts is the control over the compliance of the prescribed norms with the foundations of morality and the rule of law.
It is also worth noting that the identification of provisions that do not comply with the law in a normative act is far from the only goal that can be set by the representatives of expert works. Much more often the results of the audit are an explanation of certain norms. It is worth recalling one of the most important functions of the Constitutional Court - the interpretation of laws and bills. Is it possible to say that the represented court is conducting a legal examination of normative and legal acts? Specialists in the field of law do not give a clear answer to this question. Nevertheless, the interpretation of a collection of norms may also be the purpose of expert work.
Principles for Examination
The procedure for conducting legal expertise of regulatory legal acts is based on a number of important principles. Here's what you should pay attention to:
- Generality. All documents are subject to verification.
- Obligatory. Correction of activity by the subjects of rulemaking should be implemented in strict accordance with the results of verification work.
- Independence representatives of expert works, as well as citizens involved in the formation and development of documentation.
- A responsibility. The experts themselves are held accountable for the results of the work performed - such as missed violations, assignment of the status of "illegality" to legal norms, etc.
- Professionalism. All experts engaged in expert activities are required to have the necessary education, relevant qualifications and a number of competencies.
Naturally, these are far from all the principles necessary for the high-quality implementation of legal expertise. There are also other, more general ideas and conditions. This, for example, constitutionalism, focus on the protection of human rights and freedoms, humanity and much more.
About the necessary documentation
The implementation of expert work requires the submission of separate documents to the regulatory authorities. Firstly, this is a cover letter. The letter must contain the contact information of the sender, the name and surname of the responsible person. Additionally, two copies of the audited regulatory act must be attached. It is very important that these copies are notarized.
The legal service of the entity involved in the internal coordination of documentation should also provide a number of necessary information. A special explanatory note is also submitted to the control body, which sets out in detail the grounds for the adoption of the document being formed. If the normative act in respect of which the audit is carried out belongs to a certain legal group, then information about this group must also be collected and documented. The same applies to older versions of the document being checked, if, for example, there are several revisions of a regulatory act.
Examination Methods
Finally, it is worth talking about the very methodology of legal examination of normative and legal acts. According to the conclusions of experts in the field of jurisprudence, the following types of methods exist:
- The definition of the subject is the most important and most frequent trick in this area. The customer independently develops a list of questions to which the expert is required to provide an answer. A list of sample questions will be given a bit later.
- Analysis of the regulatory act on the lawfulness, establishing the conformity of its form to legal standards. So, a document may be invalidated if its content contains some inaccuracies or errors.
- Analysis of each position in the document. The goal here is one - to identify the compliance of existing standards with current legislation. If contradictions are found, the document is subject to cancellation.
- Providing answers to questions compiled by a specialist.
- Formation of an expert opinion - a written result of all work performed. In conclusion, elements of a recommendatory nature may also be present.
As a result, drawn up by an expert, a special assessment of all work performed may be contained. It is about the assessment that will be described later.
Questions for specialists
To determine the subject of a regulatory act, experts are asked rather trivial, but at the same time, very important questions. Is the document drawn up correctly? Are there any errors in it? If so, which ones? These three questions are already enough for an optimal conclusion. However, many applicants are also interested in whether the document contains morality and security requirements, whether there is a violation of the rights of counterparties, whether this or that paragraph makes sense, whether something should be added or removed, etc.
Questions are sent to the expert depending on the specific situation. So, one applicant needs to check the entire document, and another - only a small part of it. Accordingly, the list of questions should be compiled in accordance with the desired result.
Assessment criteria
What criteria should be met by the legal expertise of normative and legal acts? Here are some things to watch out for:
- carrying out work on compliance with constitutional norms, treaties of an international character, state laws and legal acts that are of supreme force;
- the presence of factors that could contribute to manifestations in the corruption sphere;
- strict adherence to compilation and formation technologies;
- the validity of the rationale for choosing the form of documentation and the application of basic terms.
Thus, expert appraisal work should be based only on the presented criteria. At the same time, it does not matter at all what kind of examination it is. Most of the conditions presented apply not only to legal, but also to other groups of expert works.
Legal basis
Almost any socially important phenomenon in the Russian Federation is subject to state and legislative regulation. Is there a legal basis on which expert legal work is based? Of course, many legal sources have been compiled, thanks to which a modern system of examination of regulatory legal acts in the Russian Federation works. First of all, it is worth highlighting the Russian Constitution. There are a number of federal laws, among which:
- Federal Law "On the Implementation of Anti-Corruption Expertise" - contains grounds for verification.
- Federal Law "On the Russian Public Chamber" - it fixes the possibility of contacting experts.
- specialized Federal Laws "On Expertise in the Environmental Sphere", "On the Accounts Chamber in the Russian Federation", etc.
Special attention should be paid to the Russian Civil Code, in which expert work is regulated in part 4.
Modernization areas
If you look at the conduct of expert legal work in Russia objectively, it is worth noting that the system itself needs to be improved for a long time. Many legal experts talk about the existence of various kinds of conflicts in Russian law, legal holes, as well as norms that do not comply with the basic law of the state. 
But in what particular directions can the system under consideration be modernized? Here are some things to note here:
- adoption of a single federal law on examination, which would combine the norms of part 4 of the Civil Code, specialized regulations, decrees, etc.
- combining well-known forms of expert work in one procedure;
- introduction of administrative or even criminal liability for experts for incorrect, false or inopportune conclusions;
- the creation of special commissions in the regions for the examination of municipal regulatory and legal acts;
- the removal of expert works from a number of powers of state bodies and their transfer to independent public experts.
The faster decisions are made in the presented areas, the better and better the whole system will work.
Examples of expert work
It is worth giving a few simple examples to better understand how the expert work should be implemented, and also for what purposes. Here are some things to note here:
- The emergence of controversial issues during the trial of a particular document. As a rule, the judge himself decides on the appointment of expert work.
- A deal is being drawn up for the acquisition of real estate. At the same time, the parties to the transaction themselves are not completely sure of the possible financial benefit. To minimize the risks, an expert examination should be ordered from a specialist.
- A prenuptial agreement is concluded. To comply with the interests of both parties, the contract is carefully considered for compliance with the Family Code of the Russian Federation.
Next, it is worth talking about examples of typical contradictions that experts most often identify in regulatory enactments.
Frequent contradictions during the examination of draft regulatory and legal acts
As already clear, all regulatory acts are checked for compliance with the Constitution, the Federal Law, or the Federal Law. Typical contradictions that are identified by experts include:
- restriction of the rights and freedoms of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation (an example is the secret of correspondence and phone calls, which many lawmakers have simply ignored);
- violation of the principle of separation of powers, as well as violation of articles 71 and 72 of the basic law of the country, which state the separation of powers between entities and the federation;
- prohibition to citizens of the Russian Federation of actions permitted by law, etc.
Currently, a considerable number of regulatory acts need to be checked.
What does the expert opinion look like?
After carrying out control and evaluation, expert legal or any other work, a special conclusion must be drawn up. It should reflect information of the following nature:
- details of the act with amendments and additions (if any took place);
- competency assessment;
- compliance with the Act of the Constitution of the Russian Federation;
- reason for research, etc.
The expert opinion of the normative legal act is drawn up immediately after completion of all necessary work, after which it is sent to the customer.